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Mets win, NY wins, US wins.

Osama bin Laden is dead, and it will be one of those moments that you’ll always remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news. For those who learned on ESPN last night, it was reminiscent of hearing John Lennon was murdered while watching Monday Football.

I was home channel surfing when I heard. I called a few friends and became mesmerized by the images on the screen. Just like when watching the Japan earthquake, Katrina, Columbine, and, of course, September 11. There is no script to history. It just relentless attacks us and grabs us by the scruff of the neck and shakes. It shook me to about 4 in the morning.

Flipping back to the Mets game, where it was tied in the ninth, 1-1 — 9-1-1. You don’t find irony or symbolism like that too often. It was inspiring to hear the crowd spontaneously chanting, U-S-A, U-S-A. Sometimes the chant sounds forced and cliche. Not last night.

“I don’t like to give Philadelphia fans too much credit. But they got this one right,” said David Wright when asked about the chanting.

Yes, the Mets won, but the crowd reaction is what we’ll remember and take with us, much as we do the images of that day.

I was covering the Yankees at the time and took the weekend off to move to New York from Maryland. I was on the Jersey Turnpike just north of the Philadelphia exit when the planes hit the towers. Because all the bridges were closed what was normally a five-hour trip became 11. My movers were volunteer firefighters. My furniture didn’t arrive for several more days.

That week was spent covering workouts at Yankee Stadium and watching the Shea Stadium parking lot used for a staging ground for the EMS workers. It was inspiring to see Bobby Valentine and his Mets, in uniform, help the workers load trucks.

And, when the games finally resumed, we witnessed one of the most memorable home runs in New York history, Mike Piazza’s drive that beat the Braves. The Mets and Braves were mortal enemies at the time, and their display of unity that night was another memory. It was another example of how sports can be unifying.

So much has happened in the ten years since, and we’ve changed personally and as a nation in so many ways, and for a baseball writer it goes well beyond the joys of traveling, from the pat downs to the long lines to the general uneasiness of strangers.

I live in a small town in Connecticut, and the fallout hits here, too.

What small town doesn’t have a 9-1-1 Memorial? Who among us doesn’t know someone lost in the attacks and the subsequent military actions in the Middle East? The failing economy is a byproduct of that day, and with it the foreclosure signs, layoffs and stress of trying to make ends meet. Who among us doesn’t cringe when filling up our tanks and wonder when things will ever get back to normal.

11 thoughts on “Mets win, NY wins, US wins.”

Excellent job by our intelligence and military personnel. And ballsy move by our president, who stayed on the task and ordered the execution of a dangerous mission that could’ve easily gone horribly wrong.
Maybe now — at long last — Obama-haters will shut the $@#@ up long enough to give him the credit he deserves for acting wisely and decisively as commander-in-chief instead of questioning the legitimacy of his birth certificate, demanding to see his academic records and disbelieving him when he asserts his religious affiliation.
Two last things: 1) Killing Bin Laden was vengeance, not justice, but I’ll gladly take it; 2)Killing Bin Laden didn’t end terrorism. Stay on the job and get it done!

John, thanks for sharing. That day I was working in Grand Central. We were evacuated to Bryant Park. Every few minutes I would walk to 5th to see what downtown looked like. It was a surreal day. At some point I could not see the towers.

Sorry to say it, but bin laden has been dead for years. of course the gils of the world dont want to hear that. then answer me this. whats with the buried at sea bit. isnt that helpful for those who dont want an examination? Sorry once again for not buying what the corporate media is selling us. By the way can anybody remember another enemy getting the buried at sea treatment. I thought that was only for brave sailors and other heroes of our country.

4 dave, If this is true. (you know I am a skeptic.) yes. It was a matter of time that Omar and jerrys desperate gamble would pay off as an injury to the mets prized hurler. A nice parting gift from the combo that wilpon just knew needed one more chance to prove they were right by hiring these clowns.

Ray (5): It is my understanding the burial at see was simply to avoid having a site where bin Laden’s followers could flock to honor him. Of course, it would be nice if they all gathered in the middle of the ocean. But, that’s another though.-JD

8.JD, I thought they said it was to follow islamic tradition. how many lies do you have to be told before you start questioning things? Theres no inflation right? Unemployment is 8% right? The economy getting better all the time. Dont belive your lying eyes, just believe what the idiot box spouts because you know they can be trusted.

Can you not follow Islamic/Judaic/Christian burial rites at sea or on land?

If you follow standard economic practice they ignore food and energy to calculate CPI. This is to avoid short term changes up and down because of short term non systemic changes in price. However when food and energy prices are not stable you cannot do that.

That said for the past few years prices have been flat. Producers had no pricing power to increase prices for items. Only in the past month or so have producer prices increased.

Unemployment is supposed to be 8%. The big exception is they do not consider people who are not working and who have stopped looking as part of the population. This has always been a problem.

The economy is getting better and has gotten better for the past 2 years. The problem is it is not growing fast enough to generate jobs. But it is growing very slowly and it is not shrinking.

I think the big problem is we are now mostly a service economy and manufacturing has been sent overseas. The traditional economic levers are not working because we have no manufacturing base.

The most robust part of the economy the past 2 years has been manufacturing. But there is not much left in this country so the effect is minimal.

Dave, I will answer you only because you have tried to put forth an organized answer and not rah rah USA. You may be a person who can be reasoned with. First of all, I am not a Dem or Rep, they are both equally corrupt. Taking your last point first. We dont even have a service economy anymore. Have you noticed when you call customer service it is almost always an Indian ansering your call? You say manufacturing is the strongest part of our economy? do you know that under Bush they started coutning putting a hamburger togeter at mcdondalds now counts as a manufacturing job? Hello, yes its true. theres too much info to tell you here. I hope you and all here will go to infowars.com to find out whats really going on and get out of the matrix. I dare you to look for ten minutes and see if you see the world differently.